Anti-fascismhttp://www.fightbacknews.org/taxonomy/term/6478/all
enOn the Manila arrest order against Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Chair Emeritus of the ILPShttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/9/12/manila-arrest-order-against-prof-jose-maria-sison-chair-emeritus-ilps
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following Sept. 10 statement from the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS). </em></p>
<p>The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) denounces in the strongest possible terms the US-Duterte regime for the issuance of a warrant of arrest on Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Chairperson Emeritus of the ILPS.</p>
<p>Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina issued the arrest warrant last August 22 for Sison and 37 others in connection with the so-called “Inopacan massacre” supposedly committed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1985 in Leyte province and the discovery of mass graves in 2006. They are being falsely charged with 15 counts of murder. There is no basis for the allegations.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, Sison was in maximum security detention by the reactionary state forces under Marcos in 1985. He was arrested in 1977 and was in no position nor authority over the CPP and NPA.</p>
<p>The so-called “massacre” and “mass graves” are actually fabricated by former national security chief Norberto Gonzales and retired General Hermogenes Esperon, now national security adviser. Esperon gathered the remains from various cemeteries and thus the issue was known as the case of “walking skeletons”.</p>
<p>The Philippine Supreme Court under Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno already dismissed the case in 2007. Former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo was also charged with the same accusation and was granted bail.</p>
<p>Among the accused is Joe Luneta who is already dead and Leo Velasco and Prudencio Calubid who were both abducted by the military and forcibly disappeared. Former peace negotiator of the National Democratic Front Luis Jalondoni was also included in the case when in fact he was overseas since 1976.</p>
<p>Prof. Sison is a recognized political refugee under the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. His passport was cancelled by Philippine authorities in 1986 and has since lived as a political refugee in the Netherlands and has tirelessly promoted anti-imperialist solidarity among workers and oppressed peoples and nations.</p>
<p>While there is no formal extradition treaty between the Netherlands and the Philippines and progressive lawyers can easily refute the baseless and false accusations against Sison, the international community must remain vigilant and express their solidarity with the Filipino people against the on-going escalation of fascist attacks in the Philippines.</p>
<p>The United States has been proven to be the Number One terrorist in the world and Duterte is fast being isolated in the global community for his extra-judicial killings and other grave crimes against the Filipino people.</p>
<p>With this latest political persecution against Sison and Philippine activists, the ILPS calls on all members and allies to demand the immediate dropping of all trumped-up charges, release all political prisoners, and support the Philippine struggle for national liberation and democracy.</p>
<p>[signed]</p>
<p>LEN COOPER</p>
<p>ILPS Chairperson</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/9/12/manila-arrest-order-against-prof-jose-maria-sison-chair-emeritus-ilps#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismAsiaAsian NationalitiesDonald TrumpInternationalJose Maria SisonndfpPhilippinesRodrigo DuterteOppressed NationalitiesU.S.Fri, 13 Sep 2019 00:09:22 +0000Fight Back7595 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgProtesters demand MN divest from Elbithttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/9/2/protesters-demand-mn-divest-elbit
<p>St. Paul, MN - “In 2017, the Trump administration awarded Elbit a contract to work on the expansion of the Mexico border wall. Elbit System’s CEO has said that the company’s current growth can be attributed to increased U.S. border spending,” said Sarah Martin of Women Against Military Madness. “This last decade has seen the international community divesting from Elbit, including the Norwegian State Pension Fund, Danske Bank. Governor Walz, we Minnesotans refuse to continue to profit from pain, injustice and tragedy at the hands of Elbit. We want you to do what Norway and Denmark did. Divest now!” </p>
<p>Martin, who is also a retiree with a state pension funded in part by Elbit, spoke to over 40 people picketing in front of the Minnesota governor’s mansion on August 29. The event was organized by the MN Anti-War Committee, in response to the recent State Board of Investment (SBI) meeting. Governor Walz is a member of the State Board of Investment.</p>
<p>Autumn Lake, an organizer with the MN Anti-War Committee explained to the crowd, “Last week, the Anti-War Committee and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee delivered over 1000 petitions to Governor Walz and the rest of the Minnesota State Board of Investments urging them to discontinue Minnesota’s investment in Elbit Systems. We were dismissed without discussion or acknowledgement of our concerns. These petitions reflected the will of the people of Minnesota, the people that these politicians supposedly serve, and yet the board has not acted accordingly. We in the Anti-War Committee have always maintained that funds should be used for human needs such as health care, education, and housing - not for war. The state of Minnesota's investments should also reflect these tenets for the sake both of Minnesota’s retirees and the victims of imperialist aggression.” She concluded with, “From Palestine to Mexico, Elbit Systems has got to go!”</p>
<p>Aadarsh Akulaa from Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee also addressed the crowd, “Recently, the Trump administration awarded Elbit Systems an over $200 million contract to further militarize our southern border. So the Trump administration is clearly complicit, but it’s not just the Trump administration - it’s even the state of Minnesota. The Minnesota State Board of Investment has about 10,000 shares in Elbit Systems and this company is absolutely terrible. In fact, the reason why this company was actually hired in the first place is because they have a terrible track record or at least a good track record of militarizing borders and also doing terrible things for human rights. The Trump administration looked toward Elbit Systems’ work in Palestine to make sure that that they were a ‘good company.’ Elbit is a ‘good company’ because in fact they disregarded human life. They don’t stop at women and children even. They’ll kill anyone because in the end all they care about is their bottom line.”</p>
<p>The MN Anti-War Committee announced at the end of the protest their plans to keep up pressure on the State Board of Investment, including a picket outside the governor’s mansion, 1006 Summit Ave., Saint Paul, at 5:30 p.m. on September 16. There will also be a BDS/border militarization teach-in and new members meeting at 4200 Cedar Ave, Mpls at 7 p.m. on September 25. In the meantime, the Anti-War Committee encourages supporters to contact the governor and State Attorney General Keith Ellison, who both sit on the SBI.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/9/2/protesters-demand-mn-divest-elbit#commentsPeople's StrugglesAntiwar MovementAnti-fascismAnti-racismAnti-War CommitteeBDSChican@ / Latin@Donald TrumpElbitInternationalMiddle EastPalestinePolitical RepressionImmigrant RightsIn-Justice SystemOppressed NationalitiesU.S.Mon, 02 Sep 2019 13:35:40 +0000Fight Back7582 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgRepresentatives Omar and Tlaib speak out against being banned from Palestinehttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/21/representatives-omar-and-tlaib-speak-out-against-being-banned-palestine
<p>St. Paul, MN - On August 19, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) held a press conference in the State Capitol in Saint Paul to a packed room, with an overflow of 100 people, on the human cost of the Israeli occupation of Palestine and travel restrictions. </p>
<p>On August 16, the Israeli government denied the representatives visas to visit Palestine. Their visas previously had been approved, but after a tweet by Donald Trump denouncing Omar and Tlaib’s visit, the approval was revoked. Congresswoman Stacy Plaskett, delegate to House for the Virgin Islands, was to join them on their trip to Palestine. At the press conference, the representatives were joined by four women who have experience with the occupation and the area’s travel restrictions. </p>
<p>As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Omar has a direct say in the over $3 billion worth of aid given to Israel every year. Omar asked if this aid should continue. “This is predicated on them being an ally and important democracy in the Middle East. Denying visits to duly elected officials and denying freedom of movement, expression or self-determination to millions is not consistent with being a good ally of democracy. We must ask Israel to stop building settlements on the West Bank and ensure the rights of Palestinians if we are going to give them aid.”</p>
<p>Omar added, “This is nothing less than an attempt by an ally of the United States to suppress our ability to do our jobs as elected officials,” and, “This decision to deny us entry might be unprecedented when it comes to members of Congress, but this is the Israeli government’s policy when it comes to anyone who holds views that threaten the occupation. The only way to preserve unjust policy is to suppress people’s expression, people’s freedom of association, and freedom of movement. The cruel occupation is real. Barring people from seeing it does not make it go away.” </p>
<p>Representative Tlaib gave a graphic and emotional account of her trip to Palestine as a young girl. The treatment of her mother at checkpoints horrified her, and she was terrified her grandmother would not receive adequate medical care after a car accident. She was very frightened when Israeli soldiers with guns and tanks suddenly appeared in the middle of the night in the village where she was staying. She added, “the outpouring of support from their districts as well as around the country shows how important it is to keep fighting for justice.”</p>
<p>Lana Barkawi, a Palestinian-American and Minneapolis native, has been unable to visit Palestine. She said that the human cost of occupation and travel restrictions for those involved in the BDS - Boycott, Divestment, Sanction - movement is unacceptable.</p>
<p>Amber Harris, a Jewish American woman who is married to a Palestinian, spoke of the harassment she has experienced when trying to go to Palestine. She was almost banned for ten years, for unknown reasons. She believes she was banned because she was involved in the uprising in Ferguson, at the time of murder of Michael Brown by the police. When she was finally let into Palestine, the Israeli government threatened her with surveillance. Harris denounces the Israeli’s government continued denial of entry into Palestine on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity and activism. </p>
<p>Carin Mrotz, of Jewish Community Action, spoke of the divide-and-conquer tactics employed to pit the Jewish community against the Muslim community on the false premise of security. “We must stand together for our own together and for justice everywhere.”</p>
<p>Rosa Drucker, from If Not Now, a Jewish organization which opposes the Israeli occupation of Palestine, said, “The situation is complex, but not complicated. It is a daily nightmare for those who live it, and a moral disaster for those who support it. We stand with the congresswomen."</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/21/representatives-omar-and-tlaib-speak-out-against-being-banned-palestine#commentsPeople's StrugglesAntiwar MovementAnti-fascismAnti-racismDonald TrumpIlhan OmarInternationalMiddle EastPalestinePalestinePolitical RepressionRashida TlaibIn-Justice SystemOppressed NationalitiesU.S.Wed, 21 Aug 2019 15:18:37 +0000Fight Back7568 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgAnti-War Committee denounces Israel’s ban of Omar and Tlaibhttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/18/anti-war-committee-denounces-israel-s-ban-omar-and-tlaib
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 15 statement from the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee.</em></p>
<p>The Minnesota Anti-War Committee condemns the Israeli government’s August 15 decision not to allow US Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib from entering occupied Palestine, to which the Israeli state controls all access. Reps. Omar and Tlaib join the thousands of peace activists, human rights officials and people of conscience around the world who are denied entry over their support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel and its Zionist policies of occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism in Palestine. The two congresswomen also now share the experience of millions of diaspora Palestinians who live in forced exile, denied reentry to their homeland. Rep. Tlaib, a Palestinian-American, had planned to visit family in the occupied West Bank.</p>
<p>Representing Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District, Rep. Omar continues to face both racist incitement by President Trump and his supporters as well as dishonest allegations of anti-Semitism from her own Democratic Party. We commend Rep. Omar for her courage and steadfastness in the face of these attacks. Principled criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism. We invite our supporters to join Rep. Omar in continued solidarity with the people of Palestine.</p>
<p>The Anti-War Committee continues our longstanding call for the total end to US aid to Israel. We maintain that Israel acts at the behest of US ruling class interests, as demonstrated by Israel’s announcement of the ban against Reps. Omar and Tlaib coming soon after a tweet by President Trump calling for it to do so. Far from being the so-called “only democracy in the Middle East,” Israel in fact is a profoundly undemocratic country, premised on the denial of Palestinian self-determination and functioning as a strategic outpost for US imperialism in the entire Middle East.</p>
<p>We encourage our supporters to join us at the MN State Board of Investment meeting on August 22 where we will pressure the State of Minnesota to divest from Elbit Systems, an Israeli company which profits from Israeli apartheid and from building the wall on the U.S./Mexico border. Minnesota should not invest in companies that profit from human rights abuses, nor in a country that bans our own member of Congress from entering to investigate human rights abuses.</p>
<p>We join with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace and the Council on American-Islamic Relations – MN in saying #LetThemIn!</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/18/anti-war-committee-denounces-israel-s-ban-omar-and-tlaib#commentsPeople's StrugglesAntiwar MovementAnti War CommitteeAnti-fascismAnti-racismDonald TrumpIlhan OmarInternationalIsraelMiddle EastPalestineImmigrant RightsOppressed NationalitiesU.S.Mon, 19 Aug 2019 00:01:42 +0000Fight Back7564 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgPhilippines: On the proposal to revive the Anti-Subversion Lawhttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/14/philippines-proposal-revive-anti-subversion-law
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following August 14 statement by Jose Maria Sison, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Chief Political Consultant. </em></p>
<p>The proposal of General Ano, secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, is one more manifestation of the frenzied drive of the tyrannical Duterte regime to impose a thoroughgoing fascist dictatorship on the people in a vain attempt to end the armed revolutionary movement as well as the broad legal opposition through red-tagging, harassments, threats, abductions and murders.</p>
<p>In line with the Duterte tyranny, the most vicious and bloodthirsty officials who love to kill people to solve problems are enamored of the long-discredited Anti-Subversion Law because it provides for the death penalty, for the prejudgment of people on the basis of guilt by association and for the arbitrary listing of people as “communists” for the purpose of extortions and mass slaughter.</p>
<p>Contrary to the view of the chief suspect in the abduction and forced disappearance of the young activist Jonas Burgos, the revival of the Anti-Subversion Law will not eliminate the Communist Party of the Philippines and the people’s democratic revolution. It will only serve to further violate the national and democratic rights of the people and will thus incite the broad masses of the people to rise up.</p>
<p>The fundamental cause of the armed revolution in the Philippines is neither the existence of the Communist Party in the Philippines nor the communist ideas of Marxism-Leninism but the exploitation and oppression of the Filipino people by imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism in a semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system now lorded over by the tyrant and plunderer Duterte.</p>
<p>The revival of the Anti-Subversion Law can give further license to Duterte’s armed minions to violate human rights and can further embolden them to witch-hunt, harass, threaten and kill those that they arbitrarily list as “communists” among the critics of the regime and the people in general. Such law can result in bigger mass murders than those perpetrated under Oplan Tokhang and Oplan Kapanatagan.</p>
<p>It must be recalled that the Anti-Subversion Law has long been discredited as an unjust and anti-democratic law by which anyone can be subjected to punishment on the basis of guilt by association, without the need to present evidence for the personal culpability of the accused for any crime.</p>
<p>Such law has long been condemned as a poison to the freedom of thought, expression and assembly.</p>
<p>Violations of democratic rights under the Anti-Subversion Law will drive more people to further oppose the regime and rise up in arms against it. Threatening to kill and actually killing people for their political ideas will compel them to act in a revolutionary way in order to get rid of the regime of terror that deprives them of the basic freedoms of thought, expression and assembly.</p>
<p>In my personal experience, red-tagging or anti-communist witch-hunts under the Anti-Subversion Law of the past never deterred me from studying Marxism-Leninism and aspiring to become a communist. Whenever the great anti-imperialist and patriot Senator Claro Mayo Recto was castigated as a communist, I became even more inspired to study the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism and learn how to apply the theory on the concrete conditions of the Philippines.</p>
<p>When I became a student activist in the University of the Philippines in the late 1950s, I was never afraid of the death penalty under the Anti-Subversion Law but on the contrary this anti-democratic law challenged me to organize Marxist-Leninist circles for the noble and patriotic purpose of reestablishing the Communist Party and continuing the democratic revolution started by Andres Bonifacio and frustrated by the war of aggression launched by US imperialism in 1899.</p>
<p>When the anti-communist witch-hunt was carried out by the Committee on Anti-Filipino Activities from 1959 to 196i in order to suppress academic freedom with the use of the Anti-Subversion Law, we the students and teachers of the University of the Philippines stood up for academic freedom and all democratic rights. Ultimately, we organized the 5000 protesters that literally scuttled the anti-communist witch-hunt on March 15, 1961. A major part of the demonstrators flooded into the CAFA hearing hall and put a stop to the proceedings.</p>
<p>The Anti-Subversion Law did not stop the rise of Filipino proletarian revolutionaries and their mass work. They succeeded in rebuilding the Communist Party and carrying out the people’s democratic revolution through protracted people’s war. Fidel V. Ramos repealed the Anti-Subversion Law in 1992 after recognizing the failure of this anti-democratic law to stop the growth and advance of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the revolutionary movement,</p>
<p>In the concrete semicolonial and semifeudal conditions of the Philippines, the Filipino communists are of the view that neither socialism or communism is the current issue. Thus, they have excelled at leading the people’s democratic revolution, which strives to realize full national sovereignty, democracy, social justice, economic development through national industrialization and genuine land reform, a patriotic, scientific and mass culture and international solidarity and cooperation of peoples for peace and all-round progress.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/14/philippines-proposal-revive-anti-subversion-law#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismAsiaAsian NationalitiesInternationalJose Maria SisonPhilippinesPhilippinesPolitical RepressionRodrigo DuterteIn-Justice SystemOppressed NationalitiesWed, 14 Aug 2019 22:32:20 +0000Fight Back7558 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgMilwaukee: Vigil Against Hate remembers victims of mass shootingshttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/7/milwaukee-vigil-against-hate-remembers-victims-mass-shootings
<p>Milwaukee, WI - On August 5, a variety of non-profit and local religious organizations hosted a Vigil Against Hate, in remembrance of those killed in Oak Creek, Wisconsin; Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett made an appearance, along with a few other local politicians. Around 100 people showed up to the vigil to express solidarity with victims of white supremacist violence, which is impressive given the fact that the event was organized in 24 hours.</p>
<p>Most notably, there was a large Sikh presence; many of them being previous victims of white supremacist violence in 2012. The solidarity of oppressed nationality groups who are often subject to white supremacist violence spoke far louder than the empty promises and slogans promoted by the non-profit organizations and aspiring politicians. </p>
<p>As election season is beginning to ramp up, it is no surprise that there was a large presence of newer non-profit organizations such as Forward Latino and Everytown running the show. While there was mention of the fight against white supremacy, most speakers glossed over this and chose to focus on gun control. </p>
<p>The shooting in El Paso is incredibly relevant to Milwaukee, as there is a Nazi student on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s campus who has threatened to shoot up the school.</p>
<p>“Per usual, UW-Milwaukee refuses to take action, even when the student paraded a poster with a swastika on it, advocating for gassing Jewish people,” said Ramone Santana, a student at UWM who attended the vigil.</p>
<p>“Instead, Grae Hosmanek, a student who decided to take the Nazi’s sign and rip it in half, is being charged with vandalism and threatened with suspension,” he continued.</p>
<p>Young People’s Resistance Committee, a student and community organization focusing primarily on issues involving immigrant rights, is hosting an event to support Grae and demand that the charges she’s facing be dropped. Young People’s Resistance Committee will be meeting outside of the Milwaukee County Courthouse by the fountain at 1:30 p.m. on September 27.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/7/milwaukee-vigil-against-hate-remembers-victims-mass-shootings#commentsPeople's StrugglesAfrican-AmericanAnti-fascismAnti-racismChican@ / Latin@El Pasomass shootingUW-MilwaukeeOppressed NationalitiesWed, 07 Aug 2019 20:13:37 +0000Fight Back7550 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgBAYAN-USA: Stop the Attacks on Human Rights Defenders Now!http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/7/bayan-usa-stop-attacks-human-rights-defenders-now
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from BAYAN-USA.</em></p>
<p>Threats and Harassment by Government Forces Foreshadowed Shooting of Human Rights Defender Brandon Lee</p>
<p>BAYAN-USA condemns the shooting of Brandon Lee, Cordillera Human Rights Alliance’s paralegal volunteer and provincial human rights officer in Ifugao, on August 6 in Lagawe, Ifugao leaving him seriously injured. This attack is part of a spate of attacks on human rights defenders targeted by the U.S.-Duterte regime in its attempts to violently silence all opposition. It was Lee’s dedication to seeking justice for victims of human rights violations and for the rights of indigenous peoples, farmers and peasants that drew the attention of the fascistic government, specifically by the 54th IBPA who had already been surveilling, threatening and harassing him prior to this incident. This attack hits particularly close to home for BAYAN-USA, as Lee was a member of our alliance and several other community organizations in the U.S., serving as a volunteer staff member of the BAYAN-USA Northern California region before his commitment to his new family as well as serving the cause of justice and genuine peace drew him to relocate to the Philippines in 2010.</p>
<p>According to CHRA, this was not the beginning: “In 2015, the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance with other human rights organizations submitted a position paper to the United States Congress’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington, D.C. One of the cases cited was the death threats Brandon Lee received as a human rights worker in Ifugao. That year, Brandon and other IPM leaders and members were sent a photo of an Ifugao burial blanket with messages that they will face the same fate as human rights worker, William Bugatti who was extrajudicially killed in March 2014.”</p>
<p>We believe this is no coincidence and that elements of the State security forces or agents are responsible for Lee’s shooting. This heinous attack was committed under Duterte’s Executive Order 70, which institutionalizes a “whole of nation” approach within his counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapanatagan purportedly aimed to crush the “communist insurgency.” However, what the shooting of Lee exemplifies and fact finding missions by human rights organizations have found is a dramatic increase in violent attacks against legal organizations such as Karapatan, BAYAN, Cordillera Human Rights Alliance, among many others. Just recently there has been a spate of killings in Negros Oriental, reaching up to 48 extrajudicial victims recorded this year.</p>
<p>We call on all people who believe in human rights to join us in condemning this violent attack on Brandon Lee and all human rights defenders in the Philippines and hold the government accountable, specifically the State security forces that the Duterte administration has let loose in the Cordillera region – the 54th IBPA, the 5th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army and the Northern Luzon Command. These attacks on human rights defenders and legal organizations need to end. The real threat to Philippine peace and security is the President himself and the state forces in his command. They are the real perpetrators of the rampant violence, chaos and growing poverty in the country and if we allow his Presidency to continue it will only get worse.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/7/bayan-usa-stop-attacks-human-rights-defenders-now#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismAsiaAsian NationalitiesBAYAN-USABrandon LeeCordillera Human Rights AllianceInternationalPhilippinesPolitical RepressionIn-Justice SystemOppressed NationalitiesWed, 07 Aug 2019 16:25:53 +0000Fight Back7549 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgFRSO leader slams racist mass murder in El Pasohttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/4/frso-leader-slams-racist-mass-murder-el-paso
<p>Washington DC - “The Freedom Road Socialist Organization strongly condemns the mass murder carried out in El Paso,” said Masao Suzuki, chair of the FRSO Joint Nationalities Commission. Of the shooter he said, “With a Twitter account liking the hashtag BuildtheWall and a photo of guns spelling Trump, it is clear that the motivation for this white supremacist crime is shaped by Trump’s racist attacks.”</p>
<p>On August 3, a Trump-supporting gunman carried out a massacre of at least 20 people in El Paso, Texas, which he justified in racist, anti-immigrant statement.</p>
<p>Suzuki added, “Racist violence, from the massacres of Native Americans to the lynchings of African Americans to the mass shootings of Chicanos, Mexicanos and Central Americans today are part and parcel of the national oppression that the United States was founded on. Now is the time to say enough is enough. We have to step up the struggle against the Trump regime. We have to organize to defend our communities from future white supremacist attacks.”</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/8/4/frso-leader-slams-racist-mass-murder-el-paso#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismAnti-racismChican@ / Latin@Donald TrumpEl PasoTrumpWhite SupremacyImmigrant RightsOppressed NationalitiesU.S.Sun, 04 Aug 2019 15:06:49 +0000Fight Back7542 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgMilwaukee: ‘Drop the Charges’ rally for student who took placard from Nazihttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/7/14/milwaukee-drop-charges-rally-student-who-took-placard-nazi
<p>Milwaukee, WI - Activists rallied outside the Milwaukee County courthouse on the afternoon of July 11 to stand in solidarity with a student who was arrested and charged for taking a vulgar, racist sign away from a Nazi.</p>
<p>Grae Hosmanek is a freshman student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In May, she and others witnessed a racist student protesting a Jewish event on campus and gathered around to deter him from spreading hate speech and threats. The lone fascist, who called himself “Chris,” was holding a sign that read "(((GAS)))" a reference to the Nazi holocaust, and another sign bearing a Nazi swastika. The sign also advocated for "civil war." Chris told the <em>Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</em> he wanted to "spark the conversation" about "Marxism ideology."</p>
<p>Hosmanek stepped in to take a sign away from the Nazi student, to the supportive cheers of the crowd that had gathered. She ripped the sign in half and ran off with it. The campus police caught her and arrested her a few minutes later. While police allowed the Nazi student to continue his threats toward Jewish and other students, Hosmanek was charged with theft, vandalism, disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.</p>
<p>After supporters gathered at her first court hearing, three of the charges were dropped. Hosmanek is still facing a charge of "vandalism," and chose to fight her case at trial and plead not guilty to the bogus charge. "I want people to see me, what I did, and why I did it," Hosmanek told <em>Fight Back!</em>, "You need to not only stand up for what is right, but be willing to put yourself on the line for it, every day."</p>
<p>Inspired by her bold action, anti-racist activists, including students, immigrant rights groups, unionists, and university faculty are rallying to support Hosmanek and demand the bogus vandalism charge against her be dropped. Supporters have attended her first two court dates and are organizing support rallies for future hearings.</p>
<p>The support committee is asking people to attend the next trial on September 23. The support committee will meet at 2 p.m. at the Milwaukee County Courthouse fountain for a short rally to demand the judge "Drop the charges!" and walk into the courtroom together after the rally.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/7/14/milwaukee-drop-charges-rally-student-who-took-placard-nazi#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismDrop the chargesNazisPolitical RepressionUniversity of Wisconsin-MilwaukeeSun, 14 Jul 2019 23:38:14 +0000Fight Back7512 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgCommunist Party of Philippines: Boldly struggle to end Duterte’s tyranny!http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/6/30/communist-party-philippines-boldly-struggle-end-duterte-s-tyranny
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following June 29 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.</em></p>
<p>Boldly struggle to end the scourge of Duterte’s tyrannical rule at the soonest possible time. Every moment he remains in power, the people’s burden and suffering worsen. Almost three years under his rule, people’s lives have worsened and the economy deteriorated.</p>
<p>Unemployment has worsened, taxes have become more burdensome and prices have soared, while people’s wages and income re- main low. The drug menace has escalated, as the government itself has morphed into the number one syndicate.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Duterte’s wealth of Duterte and that of his bureaucrat capitalist and oligarch cohorts continue to grow from government contracts and plundering the people’s money. He is subservient to foreign powers and surrenders the country’s sovereignty and patrimony.</p>
<p>Duterte is aunting his power across the country. He employs the entire armed force and state resources to subject the people to violence and deception. He silences his critics, activists, lawyers and the media. He suppresses the people’s resistance. Killings, attacks against entire communities, arrests and imprisonment are rampant.</p>
<p>Duterte controls the entire bureaucracy, the armed forces and government branches. To escape culpability for his crimes, he seeks to perpetuate beyond 2022 the power and privilege he enjoys with his family and accomplices.</p>
<p>Still, however powerful Duterte appears, he can not forever suppress the people’s aspiration to be free from tyranny and fascism. Their demand for justice and democracy will not be silenced.</p>
<p>It is the right of the Filipino people to resist and overthrow a government that op- presses their common interests and relentlessly suppresses them. Just as the Marcos and Estrada regimes were overthrown, there is nothing more just for the people to do than oust the brutal, corrupt, oppressive and treasonous Duterte regime.</p>
<p>To the Filipino people: steel your selves in the difficult struggle against the fascist regime and to correct the course of the country’s history. If the people will unite and march as one, they are an invincible political force and impetus of change.</p>
<p>Build the people’s organized strength. Open their eyes to the real situation of the country. Tear off the blindfold of Duterte’s lies and distortions. Persevere to unmask, understand and expose the social realities, the absence of democracy and freedom, the rule of a few oligarchs, bureaucrat capitalists and fascists, and the oppression and exploitation of the toiling masses.</p>
<p>Pay attention to people’s issues and questions of state. Repudiate indifference. Grapple and comprehend the roots of everyday problems and grievances. Be students of history, politics and economics.</p>
<p>Firmly unite. Reject self-interest. One’s well-being is linked to the welfare of all. Give everything to build and broaden mass organizations. Strengthen or establish fac- tory unions. Build and strengthen various mass organizations that unite the majority in schools, of ces and communities.</p>
<p>Act as one and express grievances over local, sectoral and national issues. Struggle for wage increases and workers rights, to reduce land rent and loan interests and for fair prices of palay and other products, against tuition increases and state abandonment of education, against demolitions, against unjust fees and other urgent demands. Link these with the bigger national issues and with the struggle to end Duterte’s tyrannical rule.</p>
<p>Mass activists must arouse, organize and mobilize hundreds of thousands of people in the cities and countryside. Be the engine of mass study and mass propaganda. Lead discussions, speak before assemblies, hand out leaflets in the streets and paint and post urgent calls on walls. Convince everyone to join mass actions and resist. Bring the Party’s message and calls to the masses.</p>
<p>Duterte aims to drive a wedge among the people in order that evil forces such as he and his cronies and cohorts can continue to rule. If millions are organized and will act collectively, there is no power that can stop the people from ousting Duterte, advancing change and determining the country’s destiny.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/6/30/communist-party-philippines-boldly-struggle-end-duterte-s-tyranny#commentsPeople's StrugglesSocialismAnti-fascismAsiaCommunist Party of the PhilippinesInternationalPhilippinesRodrigo DuterteOppressed NationalitiesSun, 30 Jun 2019 14:55:06 +0000Fight Back7492 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgDefending the Venezuelan embassy in Washington DChttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/5/6/defending-venezuelan-embassy-washington-dc
<p>Washington, DC - On May 4, over 100 people came out to support the Embassy Protection Collective that has been inside the Venezuelan embassy, defending it for the past several weeks.</p>
<p>The day also featured a crowd of between 100 and 150 opposition goons. Their numbers grew for a few hours during their opposition-organized outdoor concert. These are people who make no secret of their desire for their own country to be the target of a U.S. invasion.</p>
<p>Inside the embassy, the protectors have ranged in numbers from between 20 and 50 people over the course of the past two weeks. They are living there with the support of Venezuela’s rightful and democratically elected government headed by President Nicolas Maduro.</p>
<p>For close to a week now, the embassy protectors have remained inside and held off coup leader Juan Guaido’s forces in Washington. The activists inside and outside of the embassy continue to put up with vile racist, homophobic, misogynist and transphobic speech directed at them by the Washington-aligned opposition members. The opposition has employed siege-like tactics designed to starve the protectors out and enable U.S. puppet president Juan Guaido’s fake ambassador, Carlos Vecchio, to take control of the embassy in D.C.’s posh Georgetown neighborhood.</p>
<p>Anya Parampil, of the Grayzone news website, has been inside the embassy now for the past week as embedded media and tells <em>Fight Back!</em> that the embassy protectors “are only emboldened by the opposition’s hatred and violent behavior.”</p>
<p>Parampil states their “resolve is only getting stronger with each passing day, despite the hardships the opposition’s been able to inflict with the help of U.S. Secret Service and complicity of D.C. Metro Police.”</p>
<p>The Embassy Protectors are asking for people to join forces and help them keep the Venezuelan embassy safe. They’re also asking for help to bring food and basic hygiene products into the building, as the opposition has attacked people attempting to enter the embassy. If you would like to follow and support the Embassy Protectors, please follow their page here: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ColectivosporlaPaz/" title="https://www.facebook.com/ColectivosporlaPaz/">https://www.facebook.com/ColectivosporlaPaz/</a></p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/5/6/defending-venezuelan-embassy-washington-dc#commentsPeople's StrugglesSocialismAntiwar MovementAmericasAnti-fascismEmbassy ProtectorsInternationalMax BlumenthalVenezuelaVenezuela embassyOppressed NationalitiesTue, 07 May 2019 01:06:49 +0000Fight Back7427 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgNYC rallies for the Negros 14, farmers killed by Duterte regimehttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/4/13/nyc-rallies-negros-14-farmers-killed-duterte-regime
<p>New York, NY - Forty people gathered in front of the Consulate General of the Philippines, April 10, in New York City to demand justice for the Negros 14, and to stop the killings in the Philippines, as part of a global day of action. </p>
<p>The Negros 14 were a group of farmers murdered on March 30, with 12 others being illegally arrested. These murders are part of a continuous campaign by the Duterte government to target peasants and workers in the country.</p>
<p>The action was organized by the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines Northeast and the Malaya Movement Northeast. The crowd chanted and heard speeches from affiliated and allied organizations.</p>
<p>The speakers emphasized that despite the violence, the people of the Philippines and those who stand with them will keep speaking out and fighting back.</p>
<p>“People cannot speak out against injustice if they are being murdered, or so Duterte would hope. But no matter how much violence he enacts against the Filipino people, those who fight for justice will not stop until it is won!” said Jessica Schwartz from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. </p>
<p>The rally ended with a vigil, moment of silence, and a cultural performance, highlighting the Duterte government’s crimes and the need to keep fighting back.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/4/13/nyc-rallies-negros-14-farmers-killed-duterte-regime#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismAsiaInternationalInternational Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines NortheastMalaya Movement NortheastNegros 14PhilippinesRodrigo DuterteOppressed NationalitiesSat, 13 Apr 2019 21:58:23 +0000Fight Back7368 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgILPS condemns Duterte for slander and intimidationhttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/4/7/ilps-condemns-duterte-slander-and-intimidation
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following April 5 statement from Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Chairperson, International League of Peoples’ Struggle.</em></p>
<p>The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), which I represent as Chairperson of the International Coordinating Committee (ICC), hereby condemns in the strongest terms the attempt of the notorious Duterte regime to slander the ILPS and misrepresent it as the international network and International Department of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) for the purpose of intimidating the legal and patriotic and progressive organizations of Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad.</p>
<p>Contrary to the false claim of the Duterte regime, the ILPS is a broad alliance of hundreds of anti-imperialist and democratic mass organizations in scores of countries from all continents. The ICC, its supreme leading organ, is elected by the International Assembly and is restricted by the ILPS Charter from having more than three members from the same country, thus preempting control of the ILPS by any single country or organization.</p>
<p>The Duterte regime’s attack on the ILPS is an extension of the anticommunist witch hunt, state terrorism and fascisation being carried out by the regime in the Philippines. It is meant to attain certain malicious objectives, such as the following:</p>
<p>1) To red-tag and intimidate the ILPS and also to vainly reinforce its previous red tagging of legal patriotic and even religious organizations that are critical of the gross and systematic violations of human rights being perpetrated by Duterte.</p>
<p>2) To mislead world public opinion and deflect attention from the complaints on human rights violations already submitted to the International Criminal Court by aggrieved victims and survivors of human rights violations, who cannot obtain justice from Philippine courts which are now under the draconian control of the tyrant Duterte.</p>
<p>3) To blame the legal patriotic and progressive organizations and even religious organizations for supposedly causing the self-generated notoriety of the tyrannical, murderous and corrupt Duterte regime.</p>
<p>In the first place, the Duterte regime must be aware of its own crimes. Since he became president, Duterte no less has been publicly inciting and ordering the police to frame up and kill suspected drug users and peddlers in the thousands and assuring his armed minions of presidential protection and rewards in cash and promotions. Thus, more than 30,000 people have been extrajudicially killed in the fake war on illegal drugs undertaken by Duterte to monopolize the illegal drug trade.</p>
<p>The international and human rights agencies and organizations have been factual and truthful in their reporting of the mass murders and other human rights violations. Thus, Duterte is the subject of complaints to the International Criminal Court in The Hague by aggrieved Filipinos who cannot seek justice from the Philippines state because of Duterte’s unbridled brutality and tight grip on the judicial system.</p>
<p>Those being red-tagged by the Duterte regime include highly and widely respected Philippine organizations, like the IBON Research Foundation, GABRIELA, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, KARAPATAN, and the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), and religious formations like the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines and the Iglesia Independiente Filipina (Philippine Independent Church).</p>
<p>The Duterte regime is maliciously spreading the big lie that its criminal ill repute or notoriety is because of the advocacy and social activism of the aforesaid organizations in support of the poor, exploited, and oppressed people and that these are merely CPP “front” or dummy organizations, which are used for raising funds abroad.</p>
<p>On their own account, the CPP and New People’s Army have time and again asserted and manifested their political, organizational and financial self-reliance because they enjoy the vigorous participation and abundant support of the people in the revolutionary struggle for national liberation, democracy, social justice, and all-round development.</p>
<p>Acting as the psywar agent of the Duterte regime, AFP Major General Parlade has gone to several countries in Europe and Southeast Asia to red-tag and slander the ILPS as a conduit of foreign funds for the CPP and revolutionary movement. He has done so at a time that the AFP is applying the brutal methods of Oplan Tokhang in Oplan Kapayapaan and escalating the selective and mass murders of people suspected of being linked to the New People’s Army.</p>
<p>Previously, it was another Duterte running dog, PNP General Albayalde who red-tagged the patriotic and progressive organizations on the outright lie that I identified them as CPP “front” organizations by maliciously misrepresenting a 1987 video, in which I sharply differentiated the forces of the armed revolutionary movement from the legal patriotic and progressive forces that had directly brought down the Marcos fascist dictatorship in 1986.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/4/7/ilps-condemns-duterte-slander-and-intimidation#commentsPeople's StrugglesAnti-fascismAsiaDonald TrumpILPSInternationalJose Maria SisonPhilippinesRodrigo DuterteOppressed NationalitiesU.S.Sun, 07 Apr 2019 17:12:46 +0000Fight Back7362 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgTampa students hold vigil for victims of Christchurch mosque shootingshttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/3/25/tampa-students-hold-vigil-victims-christchurch-mosque-shootings
<p>Tampa, FL - On March 21 University of South Florida (USF) students and Tampa community members gathered to commemorate the lives of the victims of the Christchurch New Zealand mosque shootings. Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) hosted the event and laid out 50 flowers on the lawn in front of the Marshall Student Center to represent each victim of the attack.</p>
<p>The shootings were committed by Brenton Tarrant. Tarrant was motivated by white-supremacist and alt-right ideas, such as xenophobia and anti-immigration, which he rambled about in a written statement.</p>
<p>“The bottom line is that white supremacy and xenophobia exist here in the U.S. too, that’s why this vigil is important. Mosques are destroyed here, but few of these attacks are addressed by the media or the public, and justice is rarely served. We need to stand up and fight against these political issues before more attacks happen,” said Tampa Bay SDS member, Sanjukta Bhattacharjee.</p>
<p>Tampa Bay SDS connected the event in New Zealand to the political situation in the United States, particularly at USF where there has been recent activity by white supremacist organizations like Patriot Front, along with racial slurs being spray-painted in campus dorms.</p>
<p>“The work done to prevent white supremacist attacks in the U.S. is weak, especially under the Trump administration, so if we want these attacks to stop, the responsibility is ours to stomp white-supremacy out of our communities. The only way to start is through collective organizing, by showing white-supremacists and the government, alike, that we do not accept their conduct,” said Tampa Bay SDS member, Kareem Hessen.</p>
<p>The event finished with the crowd chanting, “Islamaphobic, anti-gay, Patriot Front go away,” and SDS re-committing to the fight against white-supremacy on USF Tampa campus and in the U.S. government.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/3/25/tampa-students-hold-vigil-victims-christchurch-mosque-shootings#commentsAnti-fascismChristchurch mosque shootingsStudent MovementTue, 26 Mar 2019 02:34:49 +0000Fight Back7339 at http://www.fightbacknews.orgPhilippines: On fascist cyberattacks and assault on media to silence the peoplehttp://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/2/17/philippines-fascist-cyberattacks-and-assault-media-silence-people
<p><em>Fight Back News Service is circulating the following February 17 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.</em></p>
<p>The CPP denounces the heightened fascist cyberattacks and assault against the media by the agents of the US-Duterte regime.</p>
<p>Over the past few weeks, websites of progressive outfits and alternative media organizations have been subjected to relentless large-scale DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks which have resulted in the websites being repeatedly taken down.</p>
<p>Also since December 26 last year, the CPP’s website, the Philippine Revolution Web Central (PRWC) [https://philippinerevolution.info] has been subjected to similar DDoS attacks in the futile attempt to deny the revolutionary forces an online channel to broadcast its views and calls.</p>
<p>These DDos attacks are likely the handiwork of the AFP’s newly-formed cyber group and its social media cell, assisted and funded by the US embassy and the US Army’s Cyber Command which has been widely reported to have launched similar DDoS attacks against US adversaries in the past.</p>
<p>These websites are targets of AFP cyberattacks for actively publishing content which exposes widespread abuses being committed by military and police forces and the lies that accompany the Duterte regime’s brutal counterinsurgency campaign.</p>
<p>For quite a while now, the AFP cyber group has been actively monitoring and targeting the social media activity of activists and revolutionaries, deploying trolls and bots that spit out invectives and insults against Facebook accounts and pages which serve to expose and denounce the Duterte regime’s fascism, tyranny, corruption, sell-out to China and subservience to the US.</p>
<p>Alongside these cyberattacks, the Duterte fascist regime has intensified its assault on the media with the recent arrest and detention of Rappler executive Maria Ressa, a staunch Duterte critic, who has been charged with a highly questionable cyberlibel case. The Ressa arrest clearly aims to intimidate journalists and demonstrate Duterte’s limitless penchant to punish those who criticize his reign of terror.</p>
<p>Even before Ressa’s arrest, journalists have been targets of a Red-tagging campaign. Since late last year, malicious reports have been simultaneously published in Manila tabloids tagging the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) as a “CPP front.” Such Red-tagging of the NUJP clearly aim to intimidate media practitioners and set them up as targets of the fascist zealots and mercenary killers of the Duterte regime.</p>
<p>The continuing assault by state security agents against the media forms a crucial component of Duterte’s tyranny and scheme to establish a fascist dictatorship. Duterte’s de facto martial law regime aims to “control the information environment” in order to direct the headlines and set the national discourse in line with the narratives set by Duterte and the AFP.</p>
<p>While the media is being targeted, Duterte’s military and police continue to go on a rampage of abuses against a broad range of forces. The recent killing of NDFP peace consultant Randy Felix Malayao, himself a former journalist, aims to send a death note to those who are actively resisting Duterte’s fascism.</p>
<p>The regime’s attacks have been most vicious against peasants and national minorities in the rural areas and workers in the cities. In addition to journalists, students, teachers, government employees, lawyers, church people and others have also been particular targets of surveillance, intimidation and threats.</p>
<p>The Filipino people must firmly unite and resist these attacks against the media and defend their democratic rights. Journalists must continue to boldly seek the truth from facts to expose the regime’s lies, shed light on the real conditions of the people and echo their demand for justice and an end to Duterte’s reign of tyranny and terrorism.</p>
http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/2/17/philippines-fascist-cyberattacks-and-assault-media-silence-people#commentsAnti-fascismCPPDutertePhilippinesPhilippinesThe Communist Party of the PhilippinesMon, 18 Feb 2019 01:56:47 +0000Fight Back7266 at http://www.fightbacknews.org